Hearst Castle Celebrates Its 50th Birthday

Despite living on California's central coast for almost four years of my life, I never took the opportunity to visit Hearst Castle only 40 miles away.

William Randolph Hearst was born into wealth in 1863. While brought up with a top-notch education, he was not handed his fortune on a silver platter. He, in fact, built his own publishing empire, beginning with the acquisition of The San Francisco Examiner from his father. That of which boasted that 25% of Americans read a Hearst Corporation publication during the early decades of the 20th century. He also dabbled in Hollywood movie productions, art collecting and politics. Hearst had many estates world-wide by the time of his death in 1951, but the one at San Simeon was his favorite and where he spent a majority of his later years. Upon WR Hearst's death, and as he wished, the 240,000 acre estate and ranch was donated to California State Parks. June 2, 2008 marks the 50th anniversary of the first public tour given at Hearst Castle.

The castle was ahead of its time. Built using Renaissance architecture, it is similar to something you would see in Europe. Each of Hearst's properties has a "theme." The castle is complete with 16th and 17th century ceilings, artwork, tapestries and sculptures. In fact, at one time, the ranch was home to the largest private collection of semi-exotic animals, such as bears and zebras.

Taylor, Tacey and I took advantage of the free tours they were giving on Monday, in honor of the anniversary. What an experience! I must add that the kids were exceptionally behaved that day. They did exactly as they were asked, not talking while the guide was, not running or yelling, walking the entire 1 hour 45 minute tour, walking only on the tour runner carpets, while older children in our tour group were breaking many of the rules. I was so proud that I let them choose a special treat (both chose stickers) and they earned their Slip 'n slide.

I hope you enjoy the following pictures. The pictures are ordered as we saw the sights on the tour, so they may jump around a bit, as we meandered around the estate. I only took external pictures, as I was afraid that my flash would not turn off. Maybe I should spend a little time learning additional functions of my camera.

This is the view from the Visitor's Center, the original site of Hearst's airfield.

The view of the Castle as you make your way up to it by bus.

The view as you step off the bus, at a service entrance to the estate.

Halfway up the staircase at the service entrance.

Casa Del Sol, "House of the Sun," the smallest of the guest "bungalows." The bottom floor of this guest house is larger than my entire house and boasts four bedrooms with private adjoining bathrooms, among other amenities, that we were not able to see. Hearst loved to entertain and wanted the estate to be a place where guests could come to relax and enjoy themselves away from the busy life. He was a gracious host as long as you followed the rules, which included not drinking too much (he liked alcohol and offered it even during Prohibition) and attended meals (as they were considered social hours) and cocktail hours. He had been known to have guests removed for not following the rules.

The famous Neptune pool, view from above the alcove.

View of one of the gardens and one of the main house's bell towers.

The entrance to Casa Del Sol, so named for the amazing views of the sunsets over the Pacific.

This is the entrance to Casa Del Mar, "house of the sea," which we did not get to tour inside. This guest house is named for the spectacular views of the Pacific. The estate was visited by many famous guests including frequent visitor Charlie Chaplin, Cary Grant, Gretta Garbo, and President Calvin Coolidge, among many others.

This is only one of the many fountains on the estate. It is on the way to the main house from Casa Del Mar. Notice the tiles on the fronts of the stairs. There is not one detail that Hearst neglected. He would often have things torn down and rebuilt to incorporate some new, novel idea that he or Julia Morgan, a famous architect of the time and the castle's creator, had dreamed up.

This is the view from the veranda at the front entrance to house, where guests would arrive.

Next, guest would see this fountain on their way to the main house. Hearst would often stand next to this house awaiting the arrival of his guests on his private train cars from LA.

The fantastic view of the main house as you make your way to the front entrance. A better view of both bell towers, which were working this day, but had not worked for many years prior. They tolled several times in celebration of the 50th anniversary.

Then it was up to this "pond," for lack of a better term, that lies in front of the entrance to the main house.

This is the front of the main house. The balcony on the right was William's, the one on the left was actress and comedienne Marion Davies', his mistress and companion following his separation from his wife and the mother to his five sons, Millicent. The large balcony in the middle was the shared sitting room of the "Gothic Suite," the master suite, of which William's and Marion's rooms were off.

This is the patio outside of the movie theater. The theater inside the main house is amazing, especially considering that is was built in the 20s or 30s! It is literally the size of something that we would watch now, except it is more square, versus the wide screens now. William and Marion had been known to shut off a movie in the middle if they did not like it, despite whether or not their guests were enjoying it.The outdoor tennis courts, and I believe only tennis courts on the estate, sit on top of the amazing indoor pool where you walk along magnificent tile artwork accented by solid gold tiles. The guides say "You walk on gold." And actually, you do walk on it.

On the bus ride back down to the visitor's center, you view the remnants of the covered trail where the guests used go horseback riding and the bear caves from the private zoo.

This is the water supply storage for the estate (not the Pacific that you see expanding outward). It holds somewhere around 16 billion gallons of water.

In the center of this picture, near the tree and rocks, are two wild sheep, descendants from Hearst's original herd almost 90 years ago!

The Castle's current airstrip, view from the bus drive down.

And that was our visit to Hearst Castle in a nutshell. I would recommend visiting it in person sometime. It is quite spectacular. I hope to someday go on the three additional tours offered, viewing the Gothic Suite, the inside of the other three guest bungalows and much more.